Fact check: Ocasio-Cortez’s claim about childhood asthma in south Bronx.

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Congresswoman for NY-14 which includes parts of Bronx and Queens, Ocasio-Cortez was talking to the congress, she claimed the following:

Watch every second of this… @AOC is so incredibly spot on. https://t.co/ESP4dC5TTo

Claim:

“[Children] in the south Bronx…are suffering from the highest rates of childhood asthma in the country.”

Fact check:

Asthma rates have been a problem in the South Bronx for a long time many decades [4]. Rates of asthma are higher among members of minority groups such as blacks and Puerto Ricans[3,4], groups that make up a majority of the population of the South Bronx.

One study of data from 2002 to 2003 found that childhood asthma rates in the South Bronx were “eight times higher than the national average” [5] Other studies have found that “Pediatric asthma prevalence rates in Bronx children far exceed national pediatric asthma rates,” and “are more likely to die of asthma than other US children” [1]

Chronic asthma among children on a national level in 2016 was 8.3% according to the CDC. [3] A statement released by NYC Department of Health put Bronx asthma rates at 8.1%, highest in New York. [2]

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